Phone Photo Dump

I was having problems uploading my photos from my phone to my computer for some reason... it would get nearly done loading and then say there was an error and it couldn't continue. I tried twice and then gave it up for awhile because it was so frustrating! Well I finally decided to try again when I had time to investigate further and get it figured out so I plugged it in and what do you know? All my pictures downloaded without a problem. So here are some of the pictures that I haven't posted yet!

This is Bella's trip to Green Goodies Cupcake shop (who just won on Cupcake Wars) after she finished a reader.

Look what sweet notes we get now that Bella is writing! :)

This was Jackson, asleep. Poor boy had infected chicken pox under his nose... they looked bad! He still has scaring from them! 

Look at my sweet Valentine's presents from Bella! She saved her allowance to get me a box of chocolates (from Whole Foods) and then saved candy up from school. Then I got whatever money she had left!! What a sweet, generous girl we have!

This was my handsome date for dinner when Mike and Bella went on their date.

I don't think I've posted anything about this (sorry if I have!) but Bella had not passed her vision screening at her pediatrician visit so we were referred for an official eye exam. Turns out, she has a stigmatism and is nearsighted. She was quite upset to have to wear them, even though she only has to wear them while reading and doing other school activities. But she thought friends at co-op would make fun of her (which they didn't!) and I think she just felt different with them on. But now it's all fine and dandy and she doesn't mind wearing them (although often forgets!).  I think they are super cute!

Here is Bella celebrating another reader that she finished at yet another cupcake shop!

Here are our MOMS Club friends at a fire station tour.

The following pictures are from a Zoo sleepover that Bella and I went on a few months back. They had a little educational bit. a zoo walk at night, then the sleep over, and then a walk in the zoo before it opened. 

The sleeping was not so comfy for me (sleeping bags on hard floors w/ a thin mat) but Bella didn't seem to notice.

They did get us up at a horribly early hour... before the sun was even up! (This was after we'd gotten ready and had a bite to eat... no coffee!!!)

Here is Bella with my coffee... we had to leave the zoo when it was over and go directly to the coffee shop for a proper breakfast and COFFEE!

Here is a cute picture of Mike and Jackson.. Jackson is so proud to be cool like Daddy and wearing a hat. ;) Love that grin. :)

Happy Mother's Day 2013

My family took me for a nice brunch at a restaurant in Norman called Local (farm to table type of place) and we had a nice time together. We also went to a park and had dinner with my Mom. It was a nice day!!

Happy 4th Birthday, Jackson!

This was my little guy 4 years ago at just 3 days old. I miss holding that little guy! :) I had a fast and lovely home birth which completed our perfect family.  

This is my silly, energetic, loving, messy, sweet, ornery, can't-sit-still little boy just after turning 4. 

Here he is on his actual birthday (April 30th) having cupcakes from Green Goodies with Aunt Lauri & Uncle Mimi as well as baby Mimi. I tried to give him just 3 candles... hadn't quite gotten into the 4 year old mode yet. ;o)  (Also, forgot to take pictures of anyone else!)

Isabella showed her generosity once again by giving Jackson over half of her "stay up late" coupons on his birthday. We have a sticker chart for the kids for a few target behaviors and one of the things they can get out of the treasure box when they collect so many stickers are coupons to stay up 15 minutes later past bedtime. Well Isabella has been saving hers for awhile and had managed to save up 5 tickets. So she used 2 tickets and gave her brother 3 tickets. The kids and I hung out in the living room (Mike had to get to bed for work the next day) and we played games together.

After 30 minutes (or maybe closer to 45) Bella headed off to bed and Jackson and I were up together for another 15 playing some more games. And taking pictures. :) He was getting pretty sleepy too!

I've been trying to do these questions every year on the kids birthdays for the last couple years... so here are Jackson's questions and answers.

Recite your name: Jackson Levi Abla
How old are you? 4
What is your favorite color? green ("breen")
Who is your Best Friend? Randy
Favorite animal? Red eye tree frog
What do you want to be when you are all grown up? A super hero
What is your favorite movie(s)? Spiderman, Batman, and Scooby Doo
What is your favorite book(s)? Spiderman Under the Sea
What makes you happy? Bella doing funny things
What makes you sad? Bella being mean to me
What is your most favorite food to eat? Macaroni and cheese
What is your favorite song to sing? Spiderman (theme song)
What game(s) do you like to play? Captain America iPad game

Color Me Rad 5k

So I've started and restarted the couch to 5k running program a couple times. Oklahoma's dang heat always seems to mess with my good intentions of finishing the plan! Well this past fall I started the running program back up with enough time to finish before the heat set in the following spring. Now I will say that it is a 9 week program running 3x a week. I've never managed to do that. So my way is more like running 2x a week, with a break week here or there... which ends up taking months to finally finish a 9 week program. If I were more diligent and dedicated I could be a die hard runner by now. ;o)

SO anyway... I did manage to finish the program and I actually mostly enjoy running now. I actually look forward to going on a run. So that is progress! And I signed up for a 5k fun race with a couple friends and my sister... and it ended up being just my sister and I. But that is how it goes. It was fun and I hope to do an actual timed race sometime when the weather cools off again. I just don't want to run in the heat... I've ran in the upper 70s and felt like I was going to die. So 90-100s, no thanks. But I am going to join a gym for a few months to keep my running going during the summer... regaining fitness after a long break with running is no joke and no fun- I definitely know.

Before race...

After race with my cheering squad and color bomb throwers.

Me and my sister.

Us and the kiddos.

Jackson's Extreme Animal 4th Birthday Party

It's always hard to believe when another year rolls around and your little baby is that much further from when he/she was actually a little baby. :( While I do miss the cute little bundle I do love seeing them grow and change... and Jackson has definitely done that!!

We started out a few months prior to his birthday with him wanting an Avengers birthday party. And I thought I was going to be off the hook this year with an easy Jump Zone (inflatable jump things) party. But about 6 weeks before (just about the time I'm thinking about invitations) he decides that he wants an animal party... reptile/amphibian actually. I recalled someone having animals come to their party and after doing a quick search, I found Extreme Animals. Jackson picked out which animals he wanted and I emailed them. They were available and we were booked... simple as that!

So I started working on the invites and worked up these on my silhouette machine...

Then I started thinking about favors. I'd seen something on pinterest where someone had taken a jar with a lid, glued a plastic animal to the top & spray painted it all (lid & animal) & used it for storing things. I thought that was a pretty neat idea so I wanted to do that for the container. Then came collecting jars. We had quite a bit just from saving for a few weeks and my sister, Jennifer, saved some for me to so I was set. I saw another post on pinterest where someone put chocolate rocks in a bag with a gummy animal for a favor. So I thought it would be even cooler to put that in these jars and use a gummy frog or lizard. I ended up finding frogs and so this is what we ended up with after it was all put together.

Favors for the adults- 

the favor label- 

For decorations I mostly just used Jackson's toy animals... a frog here a snake there. I cute out a few leaves and lizards using my silhouette and strung them up. I had some confetti like frogs and lizards that I put on the food table. I made a terrarium with a jar, rocks, fake leaves and a rubber frog. I made a few paper snakes and hung them from the chandeliers like they were uncoiling from the lights. I think that was about the extent of my decorating. My sister, Jennifer, had already made a bunting for Jackson as part of his birthday present so I got that early and hung it up as well.

Oh and I can't forget the wall with the pictures... I really like doing this for each birthday (even last year when Bella had her birthday at Great Wolf Lodge, I still put up her yearly pictures for the month for us to look at). It's so fun to see how much they change year after year in each picture.

As for the party itself, I wasn't going to have to do too much thankfully. No games to put together or anything like that. I figured we eat snacky foods, sing happy birthday, eat cake and do presents. Then the animals would come and that would take up the remaining hour. Well Isabella had other ideas. She was dead set on us doing a piñata. Jackson was pretty pumped about the idea too. But I told them that I wasn't going to do a piñata along with all the other costs associated with this party (the animals being the big expense). So Isabella figured out how much she would need to save to buy one for her brother and then buy the things to stuff it with and then told her brother that she would buy him one. A very sweet gesture (although partly she just wanted because she enjoys them so much). In the end, she did save the money and buy it and the toys to stuff it with and I offered to go ahead and get the candy because I wanted to have healthier candies which would cost too much for her so save. So I'm very proud of Isabella's generosity in saving weeks of her allowance to get a piñata for her brother's party. :) It was a pretty tough piñata... after everyone had swung at it a couple times, we had to call on my 17 year old nephew to bust the thing open.

My mom made a yummy snake cupcake(s)...

Jackson got lots of really cool and fun presents!

And the grand finale was the animals. It was a really warm day in our non-shaded backyard but the kids didn't seem to mind that much. Everyone (even the parents) got to hold nearly all the animals and touch/pet every single one. The handler was very good at providing lots of information and having patience with a group of small kids. Jackson was so in love with all the animals... even going so far as to give one of the lizards kisses. He was just so enthralled and would say, "he is so cute!"

The animals that came were a snake, a tree frog (from Australia, not the red eye tree frog variety from C. America that Jackson loves... but he didn't notice the difference!), a coatimundi (we first learned of these animals when we went to Costa Rica last year), a fennec fox (Jackson has a storybook with a fennec fox in it and they are the cutest little things with huge ears), a lizard (actually they brought 3 lizards because they weren't sure which we wanted... so there was a bearded dragon, a leopard gecko, and another... I can't remember what it was!), and a cayman.

And I think nearly everyone got in on the snake action. This is Banana... and he feels mighty weird slithering around while you're holding him!

So that puts another successful birthday party in the books! :)